In the case of Paul Miller shooting his neighbor about an argument revolving around barking dogs, a linguist stated that statements from Miller, who is from the mountains of Tennessee, could be misconstrued because of dialect and colloquialisms.

From the article:
University of Florida Law Professor George Dekle said some defense attorneys don’t go that route in part because the burden of proof at such a hearing is on the accused while at a trial the burden of proof is on the prosecution.

“Why assume a burden of proof and tip your hand on what your defense is going to be, give the prosecution an opportunity to prepare for it at trial?” Dekle said.

Larry A. DiMatteoHuber Hurst Professor of Contract Law & Legal Studies; Warrington College of Business Administration; Affiliated Professor, Levin College of Law

On April 10, DiMatteo was among several announced winners of the 2013 SEC Faculty Achievement Awards. The award recognizes professors from the 14 SEC-member universities who have praiseworthy records in teaching and scholarship and who serve as role models.

This article, written by Hamilton, discusses the recent e-discovery conference at UF Law, and the six biggest mistakes when using e-discovery and how to banish them for good.

From the article:

Our Florida conference also busted traditional conference boundaries. We had 82 in-person registrants, and 150 participants live online (that number, however, includes organizations that aired the program in conference rooms, so the “body count” for online attendees is actually higher). We streamed the entire conference live, and online attendees could ask questions of panelists via email. Most panels became engaged debates. The conference also was recorded, users who sign up for the recorded version can download all tools and resources. (Registration: www. law.ufl.edu/academics/ediscoveryconference. Fee: $99.)

Bloggers and Internet critics are increasingly becoming the target of slander and libel lawsuits after posting bad reviews or negative comments. An example of this is a 14-year resident of a Naples residential community.

From the article:
Consumers are increasingly turning to online reviews before purchasing products or services, prompting businesses to take negative reviews seriously, said Lyrissa Lidsky, a University of Florida Levin School of Law professor.

“Suing one’s critics, however, is a risky strategy,” said Lidsky, who specializes in defamation, First Amendment law and Internet speech. “It may be bringing more attention to the negative publicity and may even produce a backlash if it appears to be a frivolous lawsuit designed to intimidate one’s critics into silence.”

Many Silicon Valley companies like Google and Facebook provide free lunches for their employees, which is causing some controversy among tax experts – some say these perks should be taxed.

From the article:
“I clearly think it ought to be taxable income,” said Martin J. McMahon, Jr., a tax-law professor at the University of Florida, who argues that in most cases the meals are really part of a compensation package.

“I buy my lunch with after-tax dollars,” said Mr. McMahon, the University of Florida professor. “And I have to pay taxes to support free meals for those Google employees.”

This article also looks at the debate over whether free lunches for employees should be a taxable fringe benefit.

From the article:
According to Professor McMahon, companies like Facebook and Google report these meals as tax-free fringe benefits, when they should be considered taxable fringe benefits. The cost of these meals, McMahon explains, should be considered a part of the employee’s salary. “Let’s say that an employee gets $2,000 in free meals and makes $50,000 a year. The company should report to the IRS that it paid the employee $52,000 in compensation on which the employee would be taxed,” McMahon says.

As Professor McMahon explained to us: “A company cannot provide tax-free meals if workers commute from home and have the ability to bring their lunches with them.”

Students gathered at the Institute of Black Culture Tuesday night to discuss body issues and race issues, and how those two often go hand-in-hand.

From the article:
Nunn, a UF law professor, said he spoke at the forum because students are his No. 1 priority.

“I want to make sure the next generation of scholars we need in this country and community are well-prepared,” he said in an interview.

Nunn spent a lot of his presentation discussing relationships and family structure.

“It’s really healthy for the African-American community both inside and outside of the community to encourage healthy relationships,” he said.

Meshon RawlsMaster Legal Skills Professor

Rawls played a leadership role in the Law and Justice Conference, held at UF Law on Feb. 27. About 85 high school students attended, and WCJB-20 covered the event.

Danny SokolAssistant Professor of Law

Sokol was named chairman of the Hispanic National Bar Association’s new Law Professor Committee.

]]>Faculty Scholarship & Activities: April 1, 2013https://www.law.ufl.edu/flalaw/2013/04/faculty-scholarship-activities-april-1-2013/
Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:04:48 +0000http://www.law.ufl.edu/flalaw/?p=8838Last week’s visit by freedom fighter and South African Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs, which was co-sponsored by UF Law’s Center on Children and Families and the Center for African Studies, was featured in stories by the Gainesville Sun, WCJB TV-20 News and WUFT 89.1 FM (story begins at 17:06).

Nancy DowdProfessor of Law; David H. Levin Chair in Family Law; Director, Center on Children & Families

Dowd recently finished the first phase of a guest professorship on the law faculty of Lund University in Sweden. She spent a little less than a month doing an informal collaboration with a range of faculty and formal presentations including collaborative law, the interrelation of family and employment law, juvenile justice, elder law and a presentation of her current research on gender, race and juvenile justice. She will return for a shorter, final visit in mid-June to complete her guest professorship in conjunction with a conference co-sponsored by Emory University School of Law on privatization and globalization.

Dowd will also give a talk on her research at Indiana University (Bloomington) on April 5 at the inaugural symposium of their Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality.

This article discusses the two cases that were before the Supreme Court last week that challenged laws against gay marriage. Jackson weighed in on the issue.

From the article:
Jackson said the case regarding the Defense of Marriage Act has the potential to affect all 50 states. The provision of the act present in the case only affects federal laws and would not directly affect Florida’s laws.

A decision against the marriage act would only impact same-sex couples legally married under state law, Jackson said. They would be treated as married in federal law, meaning they could receive benefits like joint tax returns or Social Security.

An Orlando woman suffered mental and physical injuries after her vehicle was struck by a woman charged with drunk driving. Defense attorneys are attempting to have the driver’s blood alcohol test dismissed. Dekle commented on the issue.

From the article:
Emboldened by the success they’ve found in quashing breath-test results, defense attorneys may be looking to employ the challenges in more cases, said longtime prosecutor Bob Dekle of the University of Florida School of Law.

“A defense attorney is going to attack the evidence even if it came down from Mount Sinai on two tablets written by the hand of God,” Dekle said. “That is what they do.”

But if there is a trend of increasing success for defense attorneys, he said it’s likely because DUI prosecutors are among the least-experienced in the State Attorney’s Office.

Johnston’s article “Theorizing Mental Health Courts” was published by the Washington University Law Review. Johnston also presented her current work in progress, titled “Vulnerability and Desert: A Theory of Sentencing the Mentally Ill” to faculty at the University of Georgia.

Shani KingCo-Director, Center on Children and Families; Associate Professor of Law

Professors Ruiz and King presented “Essential Ethics for Advocates: Avoiding the Unauthorized Practice of Law” at The Annual COPAA (Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates) in Miami on March 10.

In this radio interview, Lidsky was part of a conversation about a Cincinnati man who was sued for making false statements via Twitter about taxpayer money being used for a new municipal project. The lawsuit was dropped when it was ruled the man wasn’t lying. Lidsky said the question here is whether the government could punish someone whose lies aren’t directly harming an individual.

Elizabeth A. RoweProfessor of Law; Director, Program in Intellectual Property Law

On Feb. 28 Rowe delivered a lecture on the “Basic Principles of Patent Law” to United Nations diplomats at the World Intellectual Property Organization in New York.

The U.S. Justice Department is considering filing a lawsuit against Apple based on evidence of the company working with five publishing companies in a scheme to raise the price of electronic books. Sokol commented on why Apple might not have had as much scrutiny in the past as companies such as Microsoft and Google.

From the article:
Apple may simply behave better than some of its rivals, or it may be doing business in areas that are so new that government regulators are still learning how those nascent markets function, says D. Daniel Sokol, an associate law professor who focuses on antitrust issues at the University of Florida.

“To attract antitrust attention, you have to be more than just big. You have to be big and bad,” Sokol says. “It was only 2007 when Apple released the iPhone, and only 2010 when it released the iPad. The company hasn’t had that long to be bad yet, if it is indeed bad.”

]]>Johnston quoted extensively, favorably in recent California Supreme Court casehttps://www.law.ufl.edu/flalaw/2012/02/johnston-quoted-extensively-favorably-in-recent-california-supreme-court-case/
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:05:05 +0000http://www.law.ufl.edu/wpflalaw/?p=4271The following language from a recent California Supreme Court case (People v. Johnson) looks extensively and favorably upon Professor Lea Johnston’s work: “Two thoughtful law review articles have suggested more specific standards … Drawing on ‘social problem-solving theory,’ [the second] article suggests a more technical standard: ‘[P]roblem-solving theory suggests that, to represent oneself at a criminal trial, one should possess foundational abilities to perceive problematic situations, generate alternative courses of action, maintain mental organization, and communicate decisions to a functionary of the court. Within the context of a prosecution, a defendant should also possess the ability to identify a plausible source of the prosecution, an ability to gather information to evaluate the state’s case, a willingness to attend to the prosecution, and an ability to withstand the stress of trial. Finally, for certain key decisions, such as selecting the defense to pursue at trial, a defendant should be capable of justifying a decision with a plausible reason.’ (Johnston, Representational Competence: Defining the Limits of the Right to Self-representation at Trial (2011) 86 Notre Dame L.Rev. 523, 595.) All of these suggested standards are plausible. But we are constrained by the circumstance that what is permissible is only what Edwards permits, not what pre-Faretta California law permitted … At this point, at least, we also think it best not to adopt a more specific standard. The discussion in People v. Burnett, supra, 188 Cal.App.3d at page 1327, and the standards suggested in the two law review articles quoted above are helpful to the extent they suggest relevant factors to consider. Experts asked to examine defendants for this purpose, and trial courts called on to make these rulings, may consider these factors in their examinations and rulings. …”
]]>Faculty Scholarships and Activitieshttps://www.law.ufl.edu/flalaw/2010/09/faculty-scholarships-and-activities-10/
Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:12:06 +0000http://www.law.ufl.edu/wpflalaw/?p=3394Mary Jane Angelo

Presented “Promoting Agricultural Production, Healthy Communities and Biodiversity through Ecoagriculture” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Fletcher Baldwin

Presented a paper titled, “The rule of law: an essential component of the financial war against organized crime and terrorism in the Americas, Uruguay round,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Commented on the panel, “Financial Crime & Street Crime,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Elizabeth Dale

Commented on the panel, “The Intersection of Law & Society with Public Labor and Employment Law,” and she presented a paper at a panel (which she organized), “Deploying History: Uses of the Past in Constitutional Discourse, Comparative Studies,” at the Law and Society Association conference in Chicago in May.

Nancy Dowd

Dowd made presentations on masculinities and feminist theory at two conferences in March at Harvard Law School and the Center for Applied Feminism at the University of Baltimore Law School.

Joan Flocks

Co-authored a paper titled, “The Role of Employers and Supervisors in Promoting Pesticide Safety Behavior among Florida Farmworkers,” which was published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 53(8):814-824, 2010. Flocks was also one of six invited reviewers nationwide for a report by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, “Assessing the Effects of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill on Human Health” which came out of a June 2010 meeting and is currently available for free in prepublication at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12949.

Commented on the panel, “Comparative Perspectives on the Environmental/Human Rights Link in the Americas,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Berta Hernandez-Truyol

Commented on the panel, “Comparative Perspectives on the Environmental/Human Rights Link in the Americas,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Lea Johnston

Johnston presented “Wrestling with the Problem: Exploring the Promise of Social Problem-Solving Theory for Representational Competence,” at the American Psychology-Law Society Annual Conference in March, and presented her current work-in-progress, “Mental Health Courts: Theoretical and Empirical Deficiencies,” at the SEALS new scholars workshop in early August.

Pedro Malavet

Presented a paper titled, “Comparative Law as Looking Glass: What Foreign Legal Systems Can Teach us About Ours,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Martin McMahon

Timothy McLendon

Presented “Eco-Constitutionalism: Authority or mandate? Florida’s awkward experience” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Commented on the panel, “Agro-Ranching and the Environment,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Jon Mills

Commented on the panel, “Emerging Legal Issues in Uruguay and the Americas,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Stephen Powell

Presented a paper titled, “Managing the rule of law in the Americas: an empirical portrait of the effects of 15 years of WTO dispute resolution on civil society in Latin America,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Commented on the panel, “Trade, Business, and Dispute Settlement,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Michael T. Olexa

Presented a paper titled, “Chemicals, Cosmetics, and Consumers,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Don Peters

Presented a paper titled, “It Takes Two to Tango, and to Mediate: Legal Cultural and other Factors influencing United States and Latin American Lawyers’ Reluctance to Mediate Commercial Disputes,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Leonard Riskin

Presented “Finding the Appropriate Problem Definition in Mediation” at the Annual Symposium on Dispute Resolution in the Courts in April.

Danny Sokol

Sokol was announced as the series co-editor of the new series “Global Competition Law and Economics,” to be published by Stanford University Press. He has also been appointed as one of the members of the editorial advisory board for the “Antitrust Chronicle,” a publication of Competition Policy International.

Jeff Wade

Commented on the panel, “Agro-Ranching and the Environment,” at the CGR’s 11th annual Conference on Legal and Policy Issues in the Americas in May in Montevideo, Uruguay.

]]>Professor Johnston encourages students to apply for judicial clerkshipshttps://www.law.ufl.edu/flalaw/2010/04/professor-johnston-encourages-students-to-apply-for-judicial-clerkships/
Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:03:26 +0000http://www.law.ufl.edu/wpflalaw/?p=3641For Levin College of Law Assistant Professor Lea Johnston, leaving a large-firm practice for a clerkship with Judge Richard C. Tallman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became a life-altering decision that inspired her to pursue a career in academia. Now, Johnston wants to encourage UF Law students to apply for judicial clerkships so that they have the same opportunity for professional development and growth as she did.

At the mention of her clerkship, Johnston’s face immediately lights up to discuss the experience she calls “second only to teaching.”

“Clerking was invigorating, and uncovered my insatiable curiosity about a variety of legal topics,” Johnston says of her experience and added, “I developed a strong relationship with Judge Tallman and my co-clerks, and these relationships continue to this day.”

Johnston cites under-representation of Levin College of Law alumni in clerking positions as a primary reason for encouraging students to apply for judicial clerkships.

“The Levin College of Law is the best law school in Florida, and one of the best schools in the southeast, [so we] should be sending more students [into clerkships],” Johnston explained.

To this end, the dean appointed a Judicial Clerkship Committee, consisting of members of the administration and faculty. The committee has launched several initiatives aimed at increasing the number of students who apply for clerkships and promoting the candidacies of UF Law students.

One new resource available in the Center for Career Development for students wishing to apply for a judicial clerkship is a database of past and present clerks who are alumni, which gives students considering clerking the chance to benefit from the experience and advice of a past or present clerks and make better-informed decisions about applying.

Concerning the timeline for students who wish to serve in a judicial clerkship immediately following graduation from law school, Johnston advised that, ideally, first-year students would take steps with clerking in mind, such as getting to know professors, writing for a journal, and selecting classes that could be useful. Then, during the spring of a law student’s second year, he or she should contact faculty for letters of recommendation, choose a writing sample, and ensure that all documents to be included in the application packet are completely devoid of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.

Johnston stated that, as a clerk, she stopped considering a candidate if his or her resume contained any inconsistencies or errors in punctuation. She also advised that students requesting letters of recommendation from faculty members consider providing them with a one- or two-page statement of interest explaining why he or she wishes to clerk so that they have the information needed to write a more personal and compelling letter.

Johnston also stressed that law students who may not have an excellent academic record or journal experience may still be competitive candidates for judicial clerkships after a year or two of work experience. The Center for Career Development continues to work with graduates interested in clerkships and the CCD encourages graduates to contact them when they wish to begin their judicial clerkship search.

“Judicial clerkships offer a unique opportunity to assist in administering the law, engage in a close relationship with a judge, develop writing and litigation skills, and gain an impressive credential that can open professional doors. ,” said Johnston. “I encourage all students with a strong academic background to consider applying to clerk for a federal or state judge.”

UF Law Assistant Dean for Career Development Linda Calvert Hanson added that “a judicial externship provides an ideal way to gain an inside perspective.”

Students interested in judicial clerkships are encouraged to attend a roundtable discussion on Tuesday, April 6, at noon in the faculty dining room where the following federal judicial law clerks will discuss their experiences: Larry Dougherty (JD 09), U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeal; Michael Dupee (JD 92), U.S. Northern District of Florida; and U.S. Middle District of Florida law clerks Jason Marques (JD 07), Lundi McCarthy and staff attorney Janine Toner (JD 04).

Spoke to the Orlando Chapter of The Federal Bar Association on Feb. 18. The topic was “Grand Jury Screening & Indictment Challenges.”

Lea Johnston
Assistant Professor

Presented “Wrestling with the Problem: Exploring the Promise of Social Problem-Solving Theory for Representational Competence,” at a Young Criminal Justice Faculty Workshop at Vanderbilt.

Joe Little
Emeritus Professor; Alumni Research Scholar

“City will review volunteer boards” (Feb. 8, Ocala Star Banner)
Little, said citizen boards are a good thing but may need review. “Certainly, I think citizen boards are a good idea for assisting the city and getting its work done and getting the ideas of more people in terms of what the city ought to be doing,” Little said. “On the face of it, taking stock of what we have and how these boards are functioning is a reasonable thing to do.”

Kenneth Nunn
Professor; Associate Director, Center on Children and Families

“Oregon civil rights group offers scholarships to white students” (Feb. 9, Christian Science Monitor)
Nunn explains why a Oregon civil rights group can offer white students scholarships to study race relations. Historically, the civil rights movement has sought out white allies, says Kenneth Nunn, a law professor at the University of Florida who teaches a course in African-American history and the law. “We have all understood that nothing is going to change in America unless the majority feels it is the right thing to do,” says Professor Nunn. One reason the Oregon group can undertake this initiative, he says, is because they are a private group. “When you are talking about public institutions, it’s very difficult to do anything that is racially targeted,” he says.

Juan Perea
Cone Wagner Nugent Johnson, Hazouri and Roth Professor

Presented on the social construction of the civil rights movement and the implications of its construction at the Mid-Atlantic People of Color Conference at the University of Virginia School of Law.

“John Mayer slammed for ‘racist’ remarks in Playboy” (Feb. 10, Us Magazine)
Russell-Brown provides her opinion regarding John Mayer’s remarks during an interview with Playboy. Katheryn Russell-Brown, director of the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations at the University of Florida and author of The Color of Crime, tells UsMagazine.com that Mayer seems to be saying “black women are not just not his type, they’re not in his class. They’re beneath him.”

Michael Seigel
UF Research Foundation Professor

“There’s a fine line between legal contributions and tainted money” (Feb. 10, St. Augustine Record)
Seigel told the St. Augustine Record that general support for a candidate is acceptable, but support from a certain project, contact or votes is not. “I teach this subject to my students and we debate about it every year,” said Professor Mike Seigel of the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law. “It comes down to how specific the understanding is and what the proof is.” He said “general support” for a candidate that is expected to make decisions for the good of the community is acceptable. But “specific support” that is tied to a certain project, contract or vote is not acceptable.

Michael Siebecker
Associate Professor

Gave a talk to the Corporate & Securities Litigation Group titled, “Trust & Transparency: Promoting Efficient Corporate Disclosure Through Fiduciary-Based Discourse.” The talk was based on his article of the same title appearing in the latest issue of the Washington University Law Review.

Jennifer Zedalis
Legal Skills Professor

Feb. 17, 2010, WCJB TV 20 News
Zedalis was interviewed by Gainesville’s TV 20 News regarding the medical cost of people who are injured by police officers in the line of defense.